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Tea Sets
You don't have to conduct a chanoyu or a Japanese tea ceremony to enjoy our selection of beautifully designed tea sets. On the other hand, it will be a privilege to learn chado or the way of tea with its accompanying rites and symbolisms collectively represented in four basic principles: wa (harmony), kei (respect), sei (purity), and jaku (tranquillity).
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Treat Cancer with Green Tea
Japanese men, who commonly drink 4 to 6 cups of green tea a day, have a significantly lower mortality rate from prostate cancer than Western men do; Chinese men, who also drink green tea regularly, have the lowest rate of prostate cancer in the world. A Mayo Clinic study found that a compound in green tea, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), inhibits the growth of prostate cancer cells.
Source:Prostate Protecting Foods by Dr. Andrew Weil
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Chaji is a full tea presentation with a meal. As in virtually every tea ceremony, the host may spend days going over minutiae to insure that this ceremony will be perfect. Through tea, recognition is given that every human encounter is a singular occasion which can, and will, never recur again exactly. Thus every aspect of tea must be savored for what it gives the participants.
The ceremony takes place in a room designed and designated for tea. It is called the chashitsu. Usually this room is within the tea house, located away from the residence, in the garden.
The guests (four is the preferred number) are shown into the machiai (waiting room). Here, the hanto (assistant to the host) offers them sayu (the hot water which will be used to make tea). While here, the guests choose one of their group to act as the main guest. The hanto then leads the guests, main guest directly behind, to a water sprinkled garden devoid of flowers. It is called roji (dew ground). Here the guests rid themselves of the dust of the world. They then seat themselves on the koshikake machiai (waiting bench), anticipating the approach of the host who has the official title teishu (house master).
Just before receiving the guests, the teishu fills the tsukubai (stone basin), which is set among low stones with fresh water. Taking a ladle of water the teishu purifies his hands and mouth then proceeds through the chumon (middle gate) to welcome his guests with a bow. No words are spoken. The teishu leads the hanto, the main guest and the others (in that order) through the chumon which symbolizes door between the coarse physical world and the spiritual world of tea.
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